The Four Legendary Kings
by jim42
Summary: A long time ago, Jack West and his daughter Lily saved the world. Now he's bored, having run out of adventures to have. But a desperate email from a former acquaintance sucks him into a journey to escape the clutches of old enemies and the dark capstone.
1. Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Glastonbury Abbey, England

February 16, 2010

0310 Hours

The woman knelt by the sign sticking out of the rectangular area in the ground, bordered off from the earth around it by long slats of half buried wood. The sign was one that had been here for years, and had been read by hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world at one time or another.

The woman checked her watch. She expected the call in less than a minute. The woman flicked her long dark fringe out of her face, placing it behind her ear then absently stroked the tight braid flowing down her back as she waited.

The call came at 3:11 AM.

"You've found it?"

"Yes, madam, exactly where we suspected."

"I'll be right there."

The woman closed her mobile phone and strode calmly to the monastery nearby, heading for the hidden basement area she had uncovered the previous morning.

Her archaeologist spoke as she dropped into the concealed room under the old building.

"Right over here. The writing is old and worn, but the Latin is legible enough."

The woman knelt down next to him.

"_Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia_...the same claim as on the sign up top. But I bet this one hasn't been seen by every tourist in the northern hemisphere. Open it up."

The archaeologist removed a foot long crowbar from the large backpack beside him and began to jimmy out the inscribed stone. It came away surprisingly easily, leaving a round hole thirty inches in diameter in the square recess.

"The priests must still use this entrance. No glowsticks, they mustn't know we're here." The woman said, climbing into the hole with a pair of night vision goggles freshly applied to her beautiful face. Her archaeologist waited, moving the goggles around his neck to cover his eyes.

The woman climbed back out of the hole only a second later. "The wall is covered with dozens of holes. I willing to bet that most of them hold trap mechanisms. Set up an A-Frame to lower me down – I don't want to set off any of those traps."

Soon afterwards the woman was descending slowly down the tight shaft, thanks to the rope connected to her waist. Taking care not to touch the recesses in the wall she steadied herself using her feet.

After a distance of about twenty feet the woman touched solid ground. She signalled to her man above, then detached herself from the rope. She would have to continue alone from here.

The woman walked sideways through the narrow tunnel connecting to the shaft. The back of her cargo pants brushed against one wall of the tunnel, while the front of her leather jacket brushed the opposite. The woman's eyes however were trained to the exit at the far end of the tunnel.

At the end of the subtly descending tunnel opened a large room, fifty feet a side and ten feet high. In the centre of the room lay the thing whose presence was implied above ground, exactly aligned to the sign above.

The woman carefully walked to the object in the middle of the room. No one knew what kind of traps could lay under any one of the dark stone tiles of the floor of the room. As she approached the object the woman realised just how large it was: ten feet wide on all of its four sides, and ten feet high, joining itself to the floor and the ceiling.

But the most important feature of the smooth stone column was the symbol carved into the wall which now faced the woman directly. It resembled an arch shield, much like a coat of arms, divided into four segments. In each segment was a crown shaped symbol.

"Here it is...the tomb of one of the Four Legendary Kings...the tomb of King Arthur."

The woman pressed her hands against the symbol, in awe of the discovery she had just made. But not a second later the wide smile she bore was wiped from her face. For underneath the symbol of the four kings, was another symbol.

"This could be a problem...who knew that they could have planned for this to be found after the return..."

The woman took several quick photos of the stone column, the two symbols in particular, and sent them in an E-Mail to an old acquaintance whom she hadn't seen in almost eight months, along with a message she'd hoped she wouldn't have to write.

The woman turned to leave, and navigated back to the shaft along the same path she had entered with. She knew that path was safe. It was odd that not a single trap had yet been activated, but the woman just figured they must activate after you got into the tomb. She walked quickly up the slight incline of the narrow tunnel and reattached the rope dangling from the shaft to her waist.

With a short tug on the rope, the woman was being pulled back up the shaft, the reverse of her descent twenty minutes previously. However this time when she poked her head above the surface, she stared not into the face of her archaeologist, but into the barrel of a Remington shotgun.

"Good morning Miss Compton-Jones. Come with me and you won't be harmed...much."


	2. Chapter 2

On the other side of the world, Jack West Jr leant back in the chair in his study. Resting against the wall, Jack began to think. He had it good nowadays. It had been almost two years since he and his daughter had averted the power of the dark sun – a zero point energy field - in a huge cavern under Easter Island.

His daughter, Lily West, was not related to him by blood, but the experiences they had been through had brought them closer than most blood families. Right now she was at school, probably with her best friend Alby. It was sometimes hard for Jack to believe the Lily was now in eighth grade.

It was also sometimes hard to believe that right now the woman in his bedroom was his wife. Jack had loved Zoe Kissane for a long time, and all their near death experiences had almost robbed him of his love. Not long after the mission at Easter Island, Jack had married Zoe in a simple ceremony with their closest friends and family, all people who had been involved with their mission in one way or another.

Jack leant his chair back to its reguar sitting position and looked at the photo on his desk. It was taken during Jack and Zoe's honeymoon – they had gone to Hawaii with Lily. The three were standing on the beach with the floral necklaces around their necks and huge smiles on their faces.

Jack ran his finger through his short black hair. He almost missed having huge missions to keep him busy. He had occasionally joined some of his friends on their travels, and gone on exploratory tours through local landmarks with his family, but he had not done anything he felt worthy since 2008.

"Jack...what are you doing?" Asked Zoe, standing at the door of the study. Jack sighed. She was beautiful. Her shoulder length blond hair and bright blue eyes; her slender, athletic figure; not many would guess that Zoe had once been a soldier of the Irish "Sciathán Fiannóglach an Airm".

"I'm just...bored..." Jack groaned.

"Aww...run out of things to explore huh? Did you finish setting up the trap system in the mine?"

"Yeah. Sky Monster delivered the last parts of the traps after the New Year."

"Well then, maybe you could explore...me."

Jack gazed at Zoe's suggestive expression and raised an eyebrow. He could really go for that...PING! Jack and Zoe both turned to look at the computer on his desk. There was an E-Mail. Normally Jack would have ignored it and taken up Zoe's offer, but something was different. This E-Mail was from the British Royal Family.

"Jack?"

"It's...Iolanthe. What's she contacting _me _for?"

"Whatever it is, can't it wait till later?"

"If the Queen turned up on our doorstep, would you still say that?" Zoe was silent. Jack opened the E-Mail. The first thing he saw was the symbol carved into the picture of the stone column.

"Zoe, it's the coat of arms of the Four Legendary Kings!" The symbol had been the one thing that had eluded Jack's investigations over the years. It had all started with an image from his last mission, taken by his mentor and long time friend, Max T. Epper, call sign _Wizard_.

The picture had depicted five warriors flanking four kings seated side by side. The meaning of the warriors Jack already knew. He had found that - and more – out on his last mission. But the meaning of the kings had always escaped him.

The only connection he could make with the four kings was in the coat of arms present on the cover of a diary dedicated to the "Four Legendary Kings", four kings whom according to the author were the most important over history. But in seeing this stone column, Jack knew there had to be more to it.

But the next image in the message shocked him further. Taken just below the image of the coat of arms was a picture of a rectangular recess in the stone, with six lines carved into it. Four horizontal, stacked above each other, with two vertical lines beside them.

"That picture...is it..." Zoe whispered.

"I think it is. And if it is, we're in a lot of trouble."

The short message under the two images confirmed both of their fears: _'Huntsman, you know what we were looking for. You know what this means. We need to meet - the Sheik's Burj tomorrow. Iolanthe.'_

Zoe was already in the kitchen, dialling on the secure phone. "Sky Monster, we need you here ASAP. We're going to Dubai."

* * *

Some time later, Jack and Zoe heard the distant roar of Sky Monster's plane, the _Sky Warrior_. After Jack had crashed his old plane at the climax of his last mission, Jack made it up to Sky Monster by giving him the conveniently liberated black Tupolev-144 of a deceased enemy.

Jack and Zoe were now dressed appropriately for adventuring, and had packed all of their equipment. Next to them, standing in the secret hangar in the hills behind Jack's farm, was Lily, also prepared for adventure and only recently home from school.

She had begged to come as well. Jack wanted to leave her at Alby's house for the night, but Zoe sided with their daughter. The sleek black Russian plane slowed down and landed on the long flat road that served as a private runway.

Jack, Zoe and Lily climbed the portable stairs and approached the door of the jet, expecting to see their long time friend, the hairy New Zealander Sky Monster. But as the door opened and twin Remington shotguns poked out, they knew that it would not be the case.

The man holding the shotguns spoke: "Jack West and wife. I'm sure you remember me very well. Little Lily however, well you have never met me before have you. I am Mordechai Muniz, and you – "

"I know who you are. You tried to imprison Stretch in one of those horrible tanks." Lily sneered, face contorted with the rage of a time long past.

"Well, so West told you, did he? Has he told anything else about my…operations? Here's one – you are all coming with me." Muniz said, an icy malice sharpening his words.

"And what makes you think we'll be co-operating? You can't expect the help of a man if you point guns at his family." Jack retorted, looking around for the plane's owner, Sky Monster.

"Who said anything about help? You'll be coming because your friends are too, West." Muniz said, moving aside and calling over several soldiers, holding the bound and gagged Sky Monster, as well as the prodigial Scottish twins Lachlan and Julius Adamson.

The twins had been helping Sky Monster convert the Tupolev from a supersonic jet to a flying death machine, like the old destroyed _Halicarnassus_ once was. They all must have been captured and had the _Sky Warrior_ commandeered to Jack's farm.

Taking one last look at his farm, and the heavily modified Tupolev, Jack reluctantly spoke:

"Fine, we'll come. But know this: as soon as I get the chance, I'm gonna kill you. No one threatens my family and gets away with it."

"Kill me, West? You and your muslim friend had enough trouble breaking the traitor Cohen out of my little prison. You're gonna have a hard time killing me with the entire Mossad on your ass."

Muniz laughed and thrust the Wests inside the plane, binding them in the same manner as his other prisoners. With the targets captured, it was time to fly to the drop point and hand over West to the client, where Muniz would collect his substantial hiring fee.

* * *

Muniz walked into the cockpit with a cocky swagger. He sat in the co-pilot's seat and keyed the long range radio transmitter.

"Messiah, this is Mossad, over."

The radio crackled for a second before the response came.

"Mossad, this is Messiah, go ahead."

"Messiah, we have the targets, and their plane crew. We are headed to the drop point. Do you have the woman?"

"Roger that Mossad, we have the woman. We will arrive in about 20 hours. I'm sure you can handle them until we arrive."

"Roger that Messiah, I will subdue the prisoners until your arrival. Over and out."

Muniz replaced the radio handset to its mounting in the cockpit. He stood; eyes on the tranquilizer rifle in a gun cabinet nearby.

"Ooh, this'll be fun…" Muniz chuckled. Revenge was sweet.


	3. Chapter 3

Unknown Airspace

February 17, 2010

0850 Hours Local Time

Iolanthe woke with a start, instantly aware of the situation she was in, purely by her various senses observations. She was bound to a cold metal wall in the near-pitch-black cargo hold of a plane. It was quiet; the roar of the plane's engines seemed really far away – the plane must be beyond supersonic. A dull throb assaulting Iolanthe's ears – the plane was descending.

Iolanthe looked around. There wasn't much to see in the dark, but she could make out several canvas covered crates, arranged so that the only area there wasn't a crate was in the two metre square around her.

A clinking and grinding of a door being unlocked drew her attention. The door of the cargo hold swung out, the relatively harsh natural light from beyond the door stunned Iolanthe, but almost immediately after an even brighter artificial halogen light was flicked on, temporarily blinding Iolanthe.

"Remove her from the wall, but cuff her as soon as you do. We don't want her out of control when we're landing in two minutes." A slimy, deceitful voice in the doorway said; a man.

Two fully equipped Carabinieri soldiers marched through the doorway; Beretta AR70's pointed directly at Iolanthe's forehead. They moved between the mass of crates, arriving directly in front of their captive. One kept his weapon trained on Iolanthe, while the other unbound her arms and legs.

Dropping awkwardly onto the floor, Iolanthe gasped with the release of pressure on her wrists. The two soldiers roughly thrust her upright and walked her towards the passenger area, sitting her in a surprisingly posh chair in an equally posh room, as the plane landed.

* * *

Lily West's eyes opened slowly, gummed together by however many hours of drugged sleep. Almost instantly she felt a wave of intense heat in the air around her. Lily looked around and saw something she didn't expect.

The monument was enormous. 3.6 kilometres long and 1.9 kilometres wide, Lily sat facing one of the many sides. Lily looked up and saw the immense height of the monolith, 348 metres to be exact.

"Wow…he brought us to Uluru…" Lily whispered.

Nearby, the twins, Jack and Zoe awoke, and they too saw the sacred place next to which they lay. Sky Monster, having been hit with a double dose of tranquiliser dart due to his large size, was still sound asleep.

"Why would Muniz take us _here_? I thought he would have taken us to one of the high security prisons that we _haven't_ destroyed yet…" Zoe muttered to Jack, who was bound to Zoe back to back.

"Well, either he or someone he works with must have something important to do here, and they must need us to do it." Jack replied.

"Ah, so the Huntsman wakes! I'm sure you realize where you are by now. And I'm sure you can hear the sound of my acquaintance arriving with our other captive." Muniz boomed from a nearby tent.

Jack and Zoe turned to the origin of the noise. It was surprisingly quiet for a plane so near. The twins beamed with excitement when they saw it.

"No way! It's a QSST! I thought they stopped production years ago!" Lachlan exclaimed.

"QSST?" Zoe asked, confused by the mention of this unknown aircraft.

"Quiet SuperSonic Transport, it's a private Concorde basically." Julius piped in.

"Who do you reckon's in it? They must be pretty rich to have something that rare…" Lachlan asked to no one in particular.

"We'll soon find out." Lily replied as the large gull-winged jet touched down on the runway barely a hundred metres away.

The oddly-shaped, sleek, white jet came to a stop, and down stairs lowering out of its doorway, several people emerged.

"Iolanthe!" Zoe gasped.

"She's captive, look at the two Carabinieri behind her." Jack said, as the soldiers shoved the handcuffed Iolanthe down the stairs.

"But why would Italian soldiers have Iolanthe?"

"West and group; let me introduce you to the man responsible for your incarceration today: Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza." Muniz declared, now standing over the seated and cuffed group, hand outstretched towards the figure emerging from the plane last in the line.

Cardinal Mendoza was a severe-looking man, with jet black hair slicked back and sharp angular cheekbones. He walked with a stride that was filled with smug arrogance over his successful capture of the group. Lily noted that if his hair was styled straight down, he would greatly resemble Severus Snape.

Mendoza swaggered over to the group, staring down his pointy hooked nose at the people now cuffed on the ground at his feet. If he was to have only one of the church's seven deadly sins, his would be Pride.

"So this is the famous West." Mendoza said, his voice dripping with a slimy deceitfulness that was almost tangible.

"Do you know why you are here today? I presume you received Miss Compton-Jones' communiqué?"

"I can guess why you've gathered us with Iolanthe, but as for why we're _here _exactly…I assume you're about to enlighten us?" Jack said, his voice touched with sarcasm.

"You assume correctly West. I can't expect you to get something for me if you don't know what or where it is."

"What is it that could be so important you had to kidnap us and drop us in the middle of nowhere?" Julius asked.

"_Nowhere _is only the best known landmark in Australia and almost its geographical centre Julius, you should know that." Lily said, a slight note of offense tinting her voice.

"Don't you turn on each other now, former minnows! You all work for me now, and I say to shut it! You are going to do what I want, and I want you to go into your monolith and get for me the Priori Rexus!" Mendoza shouted.

"The _what_? I thought you said you were going to explain!" Zoe exclaimed.

"You know of the six pillars, and their powers. Before them there was another pillar, one made of pure Thyrium - a rare element found only in meteors - that is known as the Primori Rexus: the First King. It was made with the powers of all six of the other pillars, albeit at a marginally less intense level." Mendoza explained.

"For example, the sight pillar shows the incident of the person's death. The Primori Rexus would show only the instant before death as a still image, according to legends. It could provide endless energy only as long as it was in contact with the device. It could make true the holders wishes, but only within a range of ten feet."

"Sounds dangerous. And it's in there? In Ayers Rock?" Iolanthe mused.

"Yes, in a hidden shrine. I presume you see that deep fissure in the monolith behind us?" Mendoza motioned towards the in-and-out, sharply pointed rocky sides of Uluru. One, directly behind Jack's group, was over a kilometre deep.

"How hidden can it be? Surely something big and shrine-like would have been found by now? Especially in something this monumental." Lily asked.

"Ah but the secret only reveals itself to those who are worthy. Idraulico! Bring me the case."

One of the Carabinieri dashed into the QSST and emerged with a large samsonite case. He handed it to Mendoza and resumed his position.

"Idraulico? Unusual call sign…" Lily whispered.

"What's it mean?" Julius asked under his breath.

"Idraulico means plumber in Italian."

"_Plumber_? What, like Mario? With that moustache he could probably convince me."

Italian had been one of the languages Lily had memorized since her last adventure. It had brought her total number of languages to nine. Out front of the group Mendoza stood upright clutching an object that shocked everyone there – a Golden Capstone.

"The capstone? But how? I thought we had it hidden – "

"Not _the _capstone Zoe. _A_ capstone. This must be the one the Blood Brotherhood used to nullify the power of Tartarus all that time ago." Jack muttered.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: the Dark Capstone!" Mendoza declared, voice again dripping with the near tangible arrogance. "The crystal core of this capstone is rather special, and in fact rather relevant today. Can you guess why?"

"Cos its shiny?" Jack suggested, voice tainted with sarcasm worthy of the great Groucho Marx.

"Very amusing West. No, this capstone is special because the core is made of crystallised Thyrium – the same substance as the Primori Rexus. Coincidence? I think not. The Dark Capstone is the key to finding the Primori Rexus. Now, shall we uncover the most powerful object on Earth?"

Mendoza motioned for the soldiers to uncuff Jack's group. Jack, Lily and Iolanthe were standing soon after. Zoe, the twins and the _still _sleeping Sky Monster were not.

"You friends stay here. Insurance of your co-operation." Mendoza commanded, before anyone could protest. Four Carabinieri men stayed behind to load the prisoners onto the QSST. Mendoza, Muniz, two Carabinieri (one the mustachioed Idraulico) and six Mossad men herded Jack. Lily and Iolanthe towards the Uluru fissure, Jack looking back towards his wife as they walked.

* * *

Just over a kilometre of walking later, Mendoza's group arrived at the end of the fissure. It ended in a rather unassuming flat wall about three metres wide and fifty high. At the base of the high, narrow, red fissure sat a similarly coloured rock a metre high overhanging a foot wide square stone marked with ancient Aboriginal art.

"It seems so obvious once you have the capstone…" Mendoza said, kneeling beside the flat stone with the Dark Capstone. He gently placed it upon its mount, and suddenly the Thyrium core glowed bright violet.

A great grinding of stone on stone sounded as immensely old machinery divided the flat wall in front of the group apart in the centre, revealing a square stone doorway five metres high and so deep that it was impossible to see the room beyond.

"Who could have known that something this spectacular could have been here all along? All that hid it was a metre thick wall of sandstone." Iolanthe muttered in sheer amazement.

"Who would have thought to place a pyramidion hidden in one of the world's ancient wonders on a flat stone in front of a random fissure in a remote monolith?" Jack asked, not expecting an answer.

"The road to a power hundreds of years old lies in front of us. Idraulico, bring me a torch." Mendoza ordered.

The hairy-lipped Italian commando stepped forward and handed his priestly superior a halogen torch from his combat gear. Mendoza flicked the torch on and headed past the threshold into the unknown darkness.

Muniz and the soldiers thrust Jack, Lily and Iolanthe into the dark tunnel behind Mendoza. The soldiers turned on small flashlights mounted on their Berettas. Jack, Lily and Iolanthe were stuck walking awkwardly into the darkness with no light, no weapons and no warblers. This was a bad position.


	4. Chapter 4

Uluru - Inside Kantju Gorge

February 17, 2010

0925 Hours Local Time

All the soldiers and Mendoza shone their torches ahead as they walked, occasionally sweeping to the side to examine the walls beside them. Not that they cared, but there was Aboriginal art thousands of years old covering the smooth sandstone walls. Lily however was fascinated.

There were paintings of snakes, paintings of wallabies, and paintings of black canine creatures chasing them. It seemed that the same story was repeated over and over as the hall went on. Luckily for Lily, this story was one she knew, thanks to a class project she did with her friend Alby Calvin recently.

Ahead of Lily, Mendoza's light breached a cavern. It was easily thirty metres wide, and roughly square in shape. In each corner there was a pool of water five metres in diameter, fed by a trickling stream originating from the roof ten metres above them.

Carved into the floor at the entrance of the brick red chamber was a giant wiggly line five metres long. Slightly beyond that, was ancient text carved into the ground.

"Little girl, come here. This is what I need _you _for." Mendoza ordered, and a Mossad man pushed Lily towards the carving.

"What does it say?" Mendoza inquired.

"Dayah Minyah…carpet snake." Lily answered.

"How is that significant? And how do we continue?"

"Well the Dayah Minyah people are part of an Aboriginal Dreamtime story…in the story they came to Uluru from the waterholes of the southeast."

"Idraulico, bring me your compass."

* * *

Compass in hand, Mendoza led the thirteen-strong group to the southeastern pond. He shined his halogen torch down into the murky depths and saw that about two metres down into the water there was a hole that was two metres in diameter.

"Did anyone bring any diving equipment?" Mendoza asked, clearly frustrated at this unexpected challenge. Muniz stepped forward, removing a pony bottle from his combat gear.

"Grabbed this off the Kiwi's plane. Here, scope out the tunnel." Muniz said, turning towards one of his Mossad men and throwing the small air tank to him. The Mossad man dived into the water and swam into the tunnel.

Three minutes later he was back.

"It's not very far. You only need to hold your breath to make it to the other side. It's 60 metres tops." He panted, slightly out of breath.

"Then we all go unaided. Give the tank to the girl to use just in case." Mendoza ordered.

One by one the thirteen people swam through the comparatively large tunnel, all emerging in a pond similarly sized to the one they entered through. Looking around with torches, the group found they were in the centre of a room forty metres wide and long, and five high.

The group emerged from the water and stood on the stone surface around the pond. As their collective weight combined, the edge of the pond sunk ever so slightly.

"Did you feel that?' Iolanthe whispered to Jack.

"We just activated some sort of trap, I bet. Do you see anything?" Jack whispered back.

Gunfire erupted around Jack and Iolanthe. The Mossad men were shooting at something several metres away. The torches on their weapons revealed the men's target.

"Snakes! Hundreds of them!" Lily shouted.

"Where do we go? Look for the clue, girl!" Mendoza commanded.

"Wait a minute! These snakes – they're dead. Hold your fire!" Muniz said, puzzled by the failed trap system. "They only seemed to be moving because they were sliding off of the piles of other snakes, look."

The group looked around and saw that the Mossad leader was right. Several piles of dead snakes littered the floor under holes in the ceiling above them. Some snakes were still falling out and sliding off of the piles.

"Something must have eaten their food supply." Lily observed, looking around. Under the glow of one of the Mossad's torches, she saw an engraved clue in the floor nearby.

"Mala…the wallaby people. Forget the snakes, we can continue now. Head for the north western corner of the room." Lily said, glaring at the man who had ordered her around.

Arriving at the north western corner, the group noticed that not a single snake lay nearby. At the centre of the snake-less area, truncating the walls in front of them was a stone wall a three metres wide and reaching to the ceiling covering what was presumably an entrance into the flat wall behind it.

Next to the slab, about two feet away, was a trigger stone jutting out of the wall. It was a foot square, and seemingly suspended two metres above the ground by something inside.

"We must have to lower the stone to release the slab." Jack thought aloud.

"You two, do it." Muniz demanded of two of his smaller Mossad underlings. They approached the trigger stone and attempted to pull it down, having to hang from it to do so. With a short period of resistance, the stone began to lower. Consequently, the stone wall raised into the wall it was set into. The tunnel behind it was merely a metre high.

"West, you head in first. Muniz, you follow him. The girls will go after, followed by myself and the rest of the soldiers. Your two men activating from the stone will remain here so we can exit later." Mendoza commanded, sounding remarkably self important considering not five minutes before he was screaming at the sight of a hundred dead snakes.

The group crouched and awkwardly navigated the small tunnel. For over a hundred metres they walked, hunched over and knees bent.

"You know, in the Dreamtime story, the women weren't supposed to head into the trials at Uluru." Lily whispered to Iolanthe.

"You don't think they can detect whether or not women are present in the chambers, do you Lily?" Iolanthe asked, slightly worried about the small cramped space.

"I sure hope not, because in the story a giant hairless dingo was conjured by sorcerers to attack them."

"Well that's good. I thought you might have said something that was real." Iolanthe chuckled, amused by the seemingly far-fetched tales of the ancient Aboriginal Australians.

After several minutes of crouched walking, the group emerged in a chamber that, unlike the rest of the rooms so far, was silver. The Mossad torches shone off the metal coloured stone, and came to rest in the middle of the room, where upon a metal pyramid rested a purple hued pillar.

"The Primori Rexus…I've found it…" Mendoza gasped. He walked along the twenty metre path to the pyramid, which rose ten metres above the floor. In each of its four silvery sides was a set of stairs that would take one to the pillar above.

Mendoza ascended the stairs, and reached for the pillar, but on the last step, he had a sinking feeling. Confused, Mendoza looked below and saw that the step on which he stood had lowered to match the height of the step before it. Suddenly, a grating of stone on stone was heard and a loud growl petered out from somewhere in the chamber. All of the soldiers turned, shining their torches in the direction of the sound. All of them saw at once the bloody stains around the three metre square opening to the left of the pyramid.

Two Mossad men crept towards the opening, guns trained on the darkness beyond and ears straining for another growl. The other two took their comrade's flank, heading in a long arc around the pyramid. The Italian soldiers stayed to prevent Jack, Iolanthe and Lily from running.

The flanking of the Mossad men proved to be their undoing. Iolanthe spotted movement near them, and from the shadows leapt a huge creature. Its sharp claws tore into the man it landed on, and its razor-sharp teeth easily bit the head off of the man standing next to him, before either could even scream.

The surviving Mossad men and Muniz began shooting at the creature. Muniz couldn't believe his eyes. He was shooting at a seven foot tall, black, hairless _dog_!

"Its the Kurpannga!" Lily screamed, and Iolanthe instantly knew what she was talking about. Suddenly those Dreamtime stories didn't seem so far-fetched.

The Kurpannga bounded across the room with great speed, the bullets merely hindering its progress. It clawed through one of the Mossad men who had headed towards its den, while the other rolled out of the way. He fired several shots into the monstrous animal's chest before he too was slashed.

The Kurpannga bit into the dying man's leg when a fwoomping sound nearby drew its attention. A second later an explosion ripped through the Dreamtime creature, and it flew metres into the air before landing on its neck with a horrible sickening crack.

Muniz looked at his kill with pride, and removed the spent cartridge from the M203 grenade launcher joined to the barrel of his M4A1 assault rifle. A smell of burning flesh permeated the air.

Above the group and safe from danger Mendoza had retrieved the Primori Rexus from its mount at the summit of the pyramid. He headed down to the group and surveyed the surviving people: Jack, Iolanthe, Lily, Muniz and his two Carabinieri soldiers.

"Well it seems we have some losses. Not that it matters, now I have the Primori Rexus. Muniz, you can take the first part of your payment now if you like, I will wait for you in the plane. Uomini, vieni con me." Mendoza announced. He left the room, his two Carabinieri following behind him.

Jack stared at Muniz. "I can guess what this part of your payment is."

Muniz smiled evilly. "Oh I bet you can. Here's your reward for such an accurate guess. On your knees."

Muniz pointed his M4A1 at Jack, who very unwillingly knelt down, looking at Lily and Iolanthe. "You two as well. I didn't ask for you, but I'll take it as a bonus." Muniz commanded. Lily and Iolanthe did so. Just as Muniz was about to fire, a voice sounded out from the entrance to the chamber.

"Your payment has been denied, Muniz!" He turned towards the source of the interruption and his gun was impacted by a bullet, which ricocheted and grazed Muniz's neck. Muniz slumped to the ground, bleeding profusely. Jack turned to see his savior and could only smile.


	5. Chapter 5

Uluru Surrounds

February 17, 2010

0925 Hours Local Time

While Jack's group were navigating the failed trap system, Zoe, Lachlan, Julius and Sky Monster were cuffed to the crates in the cargo hold of the QSST. Outside the cargo hold were four heavily armed Carabinieri, two standing near the door and the other two slacking off in the plane's posh lounge area.

Zoe was cuffed to the metal wall, Sky Monster beside her. Sky Monster was still out cold from the effects of a double dose of potent tranquiliser. Zoe noted that it had been at least half an hour since she'd woken up. With his double dose, who knew when Sky Monster would wake.

In front and to the left of Zoe was where the twins could be found. Cuffed to a crate and facing to Zoe's right, they seemed to wiggle every few seconds.

"What are you doing?" Zoe asked, perplexed by their unusual movements.

"Shh. We're picking the lock on Lachlan's cuffs." Julius whispered.

"Once we're out, we'll do you and Sky Monster." Lachlan added.

"No guys, I have a better idea…" Zoe muttered.

* * *

The two guards at the door peered at their comrades lounging in the expensive chairs of the plane's passenger hold. Why should they get to relax? They had simply declared that they would not be guarding the prisoners, for two skinny nerds, a girl and a sleeping giant didn't need the whole cavalry to hold them. A voice from inside got their attention.

"Hello? Um, excuse me, signors?" Zoe called.

The two soldiers turned and stepped into the cargo hold, perplexed by the little woman's communication.

"Buon giorno, um…I need to…to use the toilet…"

"Toilet? Usare il bagno?" One soldier said.

"Uh…si…usare il bagno…"

The Carabinieri looked at each other. They were soldiers, not hostage takers. They didn't know what to do if a prisoner needed to go to the toilet. But…if they took her to the plane's bathroom, perhaps they could have a little bit of fun. That'd show the slackers in the comfortable chairs.

"Si, puoi usare il bagno." The soldiers walked towards Zoe, images of what they could do flashing through their excited minds. One soldier knelt down beside Zoe, placing his gun to the floor at his side. The other stood behind, his gun arm relaxed, pointed at the floor.

When Zoe's cuffs were undone, the soldier responsible pulled her up by her arm, an expectant glint in his eye. The other soldier was staring at Zoe with the same look. Unnoticed by the fantasizing soldiers, two ginger-haired Scots stood up behind them.

Lachlan kicked at the nearest soldier's knee, effectively collapsing it. Julius grabbed the machinegun in his hand, pointing it at the soldier holding Zoe. As the soldier collapsed, Lachlan wrapped his arms around his throat, in what's known as the 'sleeper hold'.

The soldier holding Zoe moved quickly, reaching for his discarded gun. But Zoe's fist collided with his face and he instead went sprawling over it. Zoe swung her other fist and it impacted the man's solar plexus, winding him.

Zoe applied a sleeper hold to this man, just as Lachlan's passed out. Julius stepped over and pulled Zoe's man's gun out from under him and waited as he too passed out.

The two Carabinieri slacking in the front of the plane froze as two Beretta AR70s simultaneously touched their heads. Their guns on the benches beside the chintz armchairs on which they sat, they were helpless to fight back. The men raised their hands in surrender.

The twins holding machineguns to the soldier's heads, Zoe removed their pistols, stepped in front of them and pointed them at their owner's foreheads.

"Stand up and walk to the cargo hold. Now." Zoe ordered, surprisingly intimidating for a skinny Irish woman.

Afraid of the multiple guns pointed at their heads, the soldiers stood and walked slowly towards the cargo hold. The twins directed the soldiers to where their comrades now lay unconscious.

With a smile, the twins simultaneously whirled their machineguns around and struck the soldier's heads with the butt. They both fell to the ground in a heap. One did not move – he was unconscious. The other rolled on the ground in pain, bleeding from the back of his head. Zoe kicked him in the face and finished the job.

On the ground and still cuffed to the wall, Sky Monster woke. Looking at the pile of unconscious soldiers before him, he spoke:

"What the hell happened?"

* * *

Five minutes later the group were equipping themselves in the _Sky Warrior_. Everyone was grabbing whatever equipment they could carry into the distant area in which resided their allies – and their kidnappers.

Zoe and Sky Monster held Berettas, while the Twins held pistols, all conveniently liberated from the Carabinieri men. Sky Monster grabbed four pairs of night vision goggles. The Twins grabbed four sets of Kevlar body armour. Zoe stood perplexed in front of a shelf of diving gear.

"Sky Monster, shouldn't there be more pony bottles here?" Zoe asked.

"Lemme look." Sky Monster quickly browsed the nearby shelves and cupboards. 'Yeah, there's a few missing."

"Someone must have taken 'em. They must be some kind of watery area in there."

"Water - in the middle of the desert? Do you really think that they _planned_ to encounter water?" Julius asked.

"Come on, bro. After everything we've been through you'd think you'd at least try to anticipate water. We'll grab a pony bottle each." Lachlan replied.

* * *

Not long afterwards, the group arrived at the entrance of the shrine inside Kantju Gorge. Applying their night vision goggles, they headed into the dark abyss of the entrance. Travelling faster than the much more cautious Mendoza, they reached the first cavern in a mere minute.

Looking around, the four spotted four quarter-circle ponds in the corners of the cavern, just as Jack's group had done not long beforehand. Unlike Jack's group however, they had no Lily to guide them.

"Split up and look in every one. Meet back here when you do. Sky Monster, take the far left one. Julius, you check far right; Lachlan, near right. I'll take near left." Zoe directed.

Every one said the same thing. A two metre wide tunnel, two metres down.

"Which one do we take?" Lachlan asked.

"Well…Jack would have had a way to figure it out; otherwise he wouldn't have been here. But none of us know anything helpful about Uluru. I say we take the far left tunnel." Zoe answered.

"You're just gonna guess? There could be all kinds of traps and stuff in those tunnels!" Julius protested.

"Well based on the way we've gone so far, if we go in the far left tunnel, provided it's straight we'll go deeper into Uluru. All the others go outward. It's our best choice."

"Hehe, what'd I tell you bro, gotta anticipate everything. It's pony bottle time guys." Lachlan laughed.

* * *

The group swam down the long tunnel, keeping oxygenated thanks to the miniature SCUBA tank-esque devices they held to their mouths. Over a hundred metres later, they emerged from the surface in a large pool of water.

"Hey Zoe, you saw the other tunnels in down there right? Just next to where we came out of ours?" Julius inquired.

Zoe paused in thought. "Yeah, I did. There was two other tunnels. There was four tunnels in the first room and there's three here. I think we went the wrong-"

"Shh. Do you hear that?" Sky Monster interrupted. The group looked around. Deeper into the room in which they now swam, on dry land, lay two animals. Through night vision goggles, the details were indistinct, but they could make out that the animals resembled dogs and they were enourmous.

"What are they?" Lachlan gasped.

"I dunno…but I don't think they're friendly." Sky Monster mused.

All of a sudden, on the other side of the room – beyond the animals – a large door started to raise. The grinding of stone on stone woke the smaller of the animals. Guided by some kind of primal instinct, it headed out through the door.

"We have to follow it." Zoe ordered.

"Are you serious? That thing could tear us limb from limb!" Julius balked.

"Do you see any other way forward? That thing is going through a doorway and we need a way forward. Let's go."

The group climbed out of the pool in the corner of the room, and quietly walked past the other, sleeping animal. Just in case, everyone had their guns drawn. They were most of the way through the room, when they heard an explosion.

The animal – in the centre of the room, ten metres away – moved. Seeing this, the group ran through the door ahead and saw in the room beyond a harsh source of light – the other animal, and it was on fire!

Looking beyond, Zoe spotted four people on the far side of what looked like a pyramid in the centre of the room. Four mutilated corpses littered the room. Three people quickly left view as they entered a small tunnel. There was part of a sentence uttered by one before leaving that Zoe caught – something about Muniz collecting his payment.

It was then Zoe saw three of the remaining people kneel down in front of the fourth. And saw the fourth point a gun at the tallest person. Zoe instantly knew that this person was Muniz, and knew exactly what his payment was.

She pointed her stolen Beretta at Muniz, not even knowing if she could fire the sodden machinegun. Praying her weapon would work, she shouted: "Your payment had been denied, Muniz!" He turned in shock as Zoe pulled the trigger.

Muniz collapsed, his gun clattering to the ground and his hand clasped around his bleeding neck. Zoe ran past the flaming canine and up to the three people kneeling on the cold stone floor.

Throwing her arms around Jack, Zoe whispered: "Aren't you lucky I happened to pass by?" Jack was speechless. All he could do was continue to smile and embrace his wife. Death would not part them today.

But gunfire erupted in the distance and the Twins came sprinting up to the group. "Zoe! We gotta move! The other thing's awake!"


End file.
